More In Your Life

Year in Review: A look back at some of the top events from April 2012

Posted: Dec. 26, 2012 12:17 am Updated: Dec. 26, 2014 5:00 pm

Wild West City owner pleads guilty to gun charges

The owner of Wild West City pleaded guilty to gun charges in Superior Court in Newton on April 11 in the criminal case against the amusement park and its corporate partners. Michael Stabile, 63, pleaded guilty as the president of Western World Inc., the corporation that ran the day-to-day operations of the Byram amusement park, to a charge of "accomplice to unlawful possession of a handgun," a third-degree crime.

As part of the plea, Stabile avoided a more serious charge of second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun under the Graves Act, which carried a mandatory three-year prison sentence. Under the plea bargain, all other charges, including aggravated assault and evidence tampering, against Stabile as an individual defendant and the park's other corporate partner, Cheyenne Corp., were dropped. Wild West City will be on one-year probation as part of the agreement.

The deal also called for safety improvements to the Western-themed park. The criminal charges against the park's owners resulted from an incident on July 7, 2006, in which a 17-year-old actor at Wild West City loaded real .22-caliber bullets in an operable firearm supplied by the park and shot fellow actor Scott Harris in the head during a skit. The live bullets were brought into the park by another employee.

In October, State Superior Court Judge N. Peter Conforti levied the fine of $7,500 on Western World Inc. and Stabile. The operators of Wild West City are also required to complete one year of supervised probation.

The amusement park was ordered to change the firearms they use from real handguns to theatrical prop guns that can fire only blanks. The park must have a safety officer on duty at all times to distribute and monitor the guns during park operations.

In addition to the changes to the firearms, the park must also provide safety training for all employees and establish a single-source monitoring system for the storage and maintenance of the weapons.

Conforti did order a civil reservation clause as part of the sentence. This order will restrict lawyers in any civil trial from using the guilty plea agreed to by Western World Inc. from being used against the owners of Wild West City in a civil proceeding.

Lawyers for Harris expect the civil trial against Wild West City to begin this spring.

Harris, who is confined to a wheelchair as a result of the shooting, spoke at Stabile's sentencing.

"This should have never happened. Now this is my life," the Harris told the court.

Saint Clare's considers new owners

SUSSEX BOROUGH— In March, Catholic Health Initiatives and Saint Clare's Health System announced that they were engaging in exclusive negotiations with Ascension Health Care Network for the transfer of ownership of Saint Clare's to best meet the needs of the communities served by the health system.

Yet on Nov. 1, Saint Clare's announced that negotiations had been terminated.

House fire claims life of Netcong man

A house fire that occurred late Thursday, April 5, and into the early morning of April 6, claimed the life of Vincent D. Regan, 77, of Netcong and the life of his dog, a mini-Doberman named Spike.

About 100 firefighters fought the blaze on 10 Main St., which also damaged one of the homes next door.

Regan lived alone in the home, with Spike, and was remembered around town as friendly, reserved and always with his dog.

A spokesman for the Morris County Prosecutor said in April that the fire's point of origin was on the floor of Regan's bedroom, near cardboard boxes, and was not considered suspicious.

The damaged house, assessed at $299,100 before the fire, was deemed unsafe by borough officials, who also said it could no longer be occupied.

Other headlines from April

VERNON — A fire erupted early April 8 at a Lake Wallkill home whose owners had left the two-story lakefront property on April 7 for the Easter holiday; according to Fire Marshall Joseph Inga, the fire engulfed the first floor, second floor, and attic of the single family home. Neither fires were deemed suspicious.

WANTAGE— Kathleen Gorman, a Lake Neepaulin resident, is suing the township and Friends of Lake Neepaulin (FOLN) over the township's plans to assess her and 716 other homeowners living within roughly one mile of the lake for costs totaling up to $1 million that could eventually be needed to pay for rebuilding the damn that created the lake, which today is owned by FOLN. The Department of Environmental Protection has designated the damn, which was built in the 1950s, as a significant hazard and ordered that it be repaired.

JEFFERSON­ — The Jefferson family whose home was struck in 2008 by an errant projectile from Picatinny Arsenal, killing their family cat, filed a federal lawsuit April 27 after rejecting a settlement offer of $7,386 from the U.S. Army last fall. Frederick and Cheryl Angle and their three children are seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages over the April 11, 2008 incident, in which a two-pound piece of shrapnel crashed through the roof of their Longwood Lake Road home, fatally injuring the family's cat, Sarah.

NEWTON — JC's Grill House, a popular Spring Street restaurant since 2007, closed on April 29. Co-owners Lynn and Joseph Cotton said they decided not to renew their lease when it expired at the end of June; in 2009, the restaurant had closed for several months amid a legal battle with the landlord over the status of the restaurant's liquor license, among other issues.

FREDON­ — Voter turnout rates were the lowest in at least four years and possibly more: only 185 people, or 7.6 percent of registered voters, voted in the annual school election, according to election results. The $4.775 million budget was approved by 57 percent and unopposed incumbent Joe Manning won his third, three-year term on the Board of Education.

ANDOVER TOWNSHIP — The New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NJSPCA) is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person who burned and tortured a 3-year-old cat in Andover Borough. While it is still unknown what happened to the cat Sparky,he has since completed treatment and lives quietly with his new owner in Andover Township.